Welcome to Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church VI
The task of reappropriating the Christian wisdom tradition, and of facilitating the reception of its teaching in this spiritual 'ice age', is perhaps one of the most urgent tasks facing the Churches today. Yet the entire Church is itself going through a deep crisis challenged by a secularistic, technological and spiritually antagonistic culture. To make matters worse, at no time in the past has there existed such a gulf between the hierarchy and the faithful of the Church. Never before has the power structure so little answered the spiritual needs of the faithful. Meanwhile, the traditional sources of Christian piety and continuity, the liturgy, spirituality and monasticism, continue to decay, while the voices of New Age quackery are amplified by a compliant consumer-driven media.
Now is the time for a deep, fearless and constructive theological evaluation of this situation, a creative return to the very springs of our dogma, canons and worship. On the one hand much contemporary theology flirts with the New Age and is particularly uncritical of contemporary culture, while on the other the forces of inertia, pseudo conservatism and plain cynicism are formidable. The same was true for Athanasius and Augustine, John Chrysostom and St. Maximus the Confessor, and the issues we face today are no less important than theirs. It is for this reason that the Fathers are of such value. Not only do we look back to go forward, we also look back to the Fathers in order to understand where we are now. The Fathers also forbid us to take refuge from the world in an imagined, antique Christian past, or within the rigid simplifications of religious fundamentalism.
Recognising that the Fathers speak from the time of the undivided Church, and that they are not the exclusive possession of any one Church or confession, this conference on every level is structured ecumenically. It also recognises that spirituality and prayer is an area of practical theology which knows no ecumenical boundaries.
Interest and Relevance
The conference will be of interest to
Patristic Scholars and those interested in discovering the Church Fathers
Scholars of spirituality and those interested in exploring the foundations of
the Christian mystical tradition
Students of theology and spirituality
Church historians, students of Church history, and historians of the late antique
period generally
Pastoral workers in search of deeper Christian resources to bring to their task
Religious educators seeking to understand the early Christian experience both as a
personal resource and for curriculum enrichment
Scholars and those interested in public and private prayer in the Early Church, in
liturgy, art and music
Clergy and religious looking to reclaim and express the tradition for their communities
in changing times
Those curious to learn more about Christian origins and the centuries which formed
Christian experience |
